Hannity, Dem Rep. Thanedar Clash over Immigration, ICE Tactics

HANNITY: All right, just to recap, Thanedar wants to impeach Trump over the deportation of an illegal immigrant — of illegal immigrants, abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And to top it all off, he also voted against a bill mandating the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes. Now, that’s a bill that passed the House with bipartisan support.

And despite dedicating so much time, effort, energy publicly supporting illegal immigrants — well, Thanedar has made little to no effort ever mentioning any of the victims of criminal illegal aliens, including those Americans victimized in his own state.

And anyway, here to respond, Michigan Congressman Shri Thanedar is with us.

All right, just to be clear, the president’s joint session speech when he honored the family of Laken Riley, murdered 24-year-old nursing student, murdered by an unvetted illegal immigrant, and honored little Jocelyn Nungaray’s family, brutally raped and murdered, a 12-year-old girl, did you stand? Did you — did you give honor to that family that lost so much?

THANEDAR: Look, Sean, thanks for having me.

HANNITY: I’m not — I don’t need to thanks. Did you stand or not? Did you stand to honor those —

THANEDAR: I did not stand because the president —

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HANNITY: You sat on your ass.

THANEDAR: I was just sick of —

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HANNITY: So, I want to be clear. You sat on your ass, and you wouldn’t stand for families of — that lost children, a 12-year-old girl raped and murdered, and you couldn’t stand for them because you were playing politics. Is that right? I want this audience.

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THANEDAR: Look, I would not stand for this president. I would not stand for this president. He was —

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HANNITY: You weren’t standing for that. You would standing for the families that lost little girls that were murdered by the illegal immigrants that you want to remain in the country. Is that true or false?

THANEDAR: Look, look, this president was using a tragedy —

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HANNITY: I’m not talking about it.

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THANEDAR: — Laken Riley’s death.

HANNITY: What about those family — have you ever picked up a phone? Because there are thousands of Americans that have been murdered and raped and victims of violent crime. Have you ever spoken to any? Have you ever called them to offer your condolences? Name one family. Name one family.

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THANEDAR: Look, every — every immigrant, everyone must have laws.

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HANNITY: Have you ever picked up a phone and called a victim’s family?

THANEDAR: Look, I — I talked to my constituents all the time.

HANNITY: It’s not a hard question, not hard.

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THANEDAR: Yeah. Yeah. I do, I do.

HANNITY: Have you picked up your phone and called them? Have you done that one time?

THANEDAR: Look, I talk with my constituents all the time. My constituents have been terrorized by ICE. ICE —

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HANNITY: Have you ever called an American family that has been a victim, murdered, raped, tortured by an illegal immigrant? Yes or no, Congressman? Did you ever call?

THANEDAR: I’m sure I have met people. I am sure. I am sure I have met people.

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HANNITY: I’ll take that as a no.

All right. You actually said this and you know, I could — I could talk to you all night about the dumb stuff you say. You voted against a bill mandating the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes. Can you explain that to me?

THANEDAR: Well, look, look, anybody who breaks U.S. laws, an immigrant that breaks U.S. laws should be deported. Anyone that commits —

HANNITY: That’s not what you said.

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HANNITY: Sir, sir, you voted against the bill that mandated the deportation of illegals convicted of sex crimes. Do you regret that vote now?

THANEDAR: No, I don’t regret that vote. Look, no, no bill is perfect. And many times —

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HANNITY: What if it was your wife, your sister, your daughter that was raped? That’s a sex crime. You want that person to stay?

THANEDAR: Look, there are multiple things in a bill —

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HANNITY: If it was your wife — sir, you got to answer the question. If your wife, your daughter, your girlfriend, mother was raped by an illegal immigrant, you voted against the bill that would deport these illegals convicted of sex crimes. You would, you’re perfectly fine if they stay in the country.

THANEDAR: Sean, look, I serve in Congress. I don’t think you ever voted on Congress —

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HANNITY: That’s what you voted on though, right?

THANEDAR: Most of the bills. Look, look —

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THANEDAR: These are not perfect.

HANNITY: Why did you vote for that? Why would you allow sex crime convicts to stay in the country that entered the country illegally? Why would you vote for that?

THANEDAR: It was not — the bill did not just include that issue. There were other things in the bill. And so, I cannot pick and choose. I don’t have a veto where I can strike out one portion of the bill. So —

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HANNITY: You would — you would have voted against it. Otherwise, what was the big provision that was that that prevented you from kicking these people out of our country?

THANEDAR: Look, I don’t — I don’t memorize. I vote on thousands of bills.

HANNITY: I don’t memorize. You don’t know anything.

THANEDAR: Look, I do believe — I do believe that such criminals must be deported. There is no doubt about it.

HANNITY: Well, you voted against it. So, obviously you don’t.

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HANNITY: I got another question for you. In the first case in Minneapolis where this woman accelerated her car at the ICE agent, that ICE agent was injured. Did you know that? Do you know what the injuries were?

THANEDAR: Look, that —

HANNITY: Do you know what the injuries were?

THANEDAR: I — that’s — the only source of that information is DHS and DHS secretary lies. She lied to me on my face.

HANNITY: You’re accusing — so you’re saying that the internal bleeding reports are lies. You don’t believe them?

THANEDAR: I have seen no evidence of that. It is only coming from DHS.

HANNITY: Let me ask you this. You’re a lawmaker. Do you believe in the rule of law and that a person’s innocent until they’re proven guilty, sir?

THANEDAR: Absolutely. Absolutely. But look —

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HANNITY: Then why did you call this ICE agent? Why did you call him a murderer? Because there was a 4,000-pound vehicle that was being driven right at him. Why did you call him a murderer?

THANEDAR: Look, lots of people saw that video. America saw that video, 80% of Americans —

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HANNITY: Why did you call that — if you believe in due process, why did you say he’s a murderer?

THANEDAR: Well, she was — you see, her last words were, “I have nothing against you, dude.” She said it in a very civil manner. This person pulled out —

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HANNITY: And then accelerated right at the officer, clear as day.

THANEDAR: She was trying —

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HANNITY: You know what the problem is, Congressman?

THANEDAR: He was trying to open the door. He was —

HANNITY: I’m going to tell you something. It’s people like you and your rush to judgment and your language and you’re defending an — even his own wife called him a wifebeater, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, your buddy. It’s people like you that don’t care about the American people and then you attack the brave men and women.

I was scrolling all of the victims of crime and you never — you never lifted a phone to call one victim, one family. You call ICE agents murderers and they’re out there. They’re putting their lives on the line. They are arresting murderers, rapists, cartel members, drug members, known terrorists. And you have zero appreciation.

And now the threat level against them is up a whopping 8,000%. And I blame people like you for that. You incite them. Your incendiary comments, I find it — I find it nauseating and you should be ashamed of yourself.

THANEDAR: Well, well, look, ICE is murdering people, murdering American citizens. They murdered an U.S. citizen, a mom with three children. That’s not acceptable.

HANNITY: OK. Your — in your — you know what, sir? I see a very different tape than you. I saw a guy whose life was in jeopardy and he defended himself. That’s the difference between us.

Thank you for coming on.